By Sean Moylan, Sports Writer
There were many subplots and interesting twists and turns in the Northern Burlington County Regional High girls’ basketball team’s playoff-clinching 55-47 win at Cinnaminson this past Saturday.
”That game was an interesting one because one of my assistants is Caitlin Gannon who is the older sister of the two Gannon sisters who play for Cinnaminson,” said NBC girls’ Coach Brad Campbell, who has done a fantastic job of turning around the program this season.
The Gannon sisters, Colleen and Christine, combined for 22 points, and they scored 14 of those in the fourth quarter to make it interesting. However, down the stretch, the Pirates made the mistake of picking on the wrong player, Jillian Asay, who netted 13 of her 19 points in the final quarter.
”Jillian (Asay) went 11-for-13 from the foul line. But they kept on fouling her and sending her to the line,” remarked Campbell, who also got a pair of huge lay-ups from Lauren Pigott in the closing minutes of the contest to put the victory on ice. “Katie Carty scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds despite some serious foul trouble.”
Ashanti Vaughn (six points), Kristine Funk (six points) and Zara Mauss (point) also tallied for Northern Burlington. Last Thursday, NBC beat Moorestown, 35-25, at home.
”Kristine Funk (eight points) was the story of that game. She covered their big kid, McGinley, and held her to just 11 points,” noted Campbell.
Carty had a monster all-around game versus the Quakers with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks. Vaughn may have had just five points but one of her buckets was a big one.
”Jillian Asay (six points) assisted Vaughn on a back breaker lay-up early in the fourth to give Northern a 29-25 lead,” said Campbell, whose Greyhounds held the Quakers to just nine second-half points. Meanwhile, Danielle Funk scored two points for NBC in the contest.
Campbell felt his team was poised and ready to go on roll when it lost a 46-33 decision at Rancocas Valley this past Tuesday.
”The way we played was a significant step backward. We really struggled in the first half and we dug ourselves a hole (27-15) that was too deep to get out of,” said Campbell, whose team did mount a furious comeback to cut the deficit to four in the second half. Unfortunately, it came too late.
Carty (12 points) and Asay (11 points) were the only Greyhounds to reach double figures in scoring. However, Pigott (four points), Vaughn (three points), Jess Koltenicki (two points) and K. Funk (a point) did get on the scoresheet for NBC.
NBC (10-4) is scheduled to host Pemberton today (Thursday). It is scheduled to host Eastern tomorrow (Friday). And next Tuesday NBC is scheduled at Willingboro. While it is in the playoffs, Northern Burlington must continue to pile up the wins to earn at least one playoff home game.
LCA
In its only game this past week, the Life center Academy girls’ varsity basketball team won at Barrack Academy, 39-15.
The score was 20-3 at the half and it was never a competitive contest.
Dominique King had a sweet game and outscored Barrack all by herself with 27 points. She canned 11 field goals and shot 5-for-8 from the charity stripe. Cayla Bercaw (eight points) and Michelle Odita (four points) also scored for LCA.
LCA improved to 10-1 with the win and is 7-0 in the Penn-Jersey League.
LCA is scheduled to play a game at Moorestown Friends School today (Thursday). LCA is scheduled at United Christian Academy next Tuesday.
